McDonald's Faces 'Millennial' Challenge by: Julie Jargon
Aug 25, 2014
TOPICS: Change; Competitive Positioning
SUMMARY: McDonald's is losing its luster with younger consumers. Customers in their 20s and 30s are defecting to competitors, in particular so-called fast-casual restaurants like Chipotle Mexican Grill and gourmet-burger chain Five Guys. Younger diners are seeking out fresher, healthier food and chains that offer customizable menu options for little more than the price of a combo meal.
TERM PAPER APPLICATION: In analyzing the predicament, it is vital to cite facts and numbers, not just subjective impressions. To start with, Consumer Reports magazine said that in a survey of more than 32,000 subscribers, readers rated
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In the U.S., with more than 40% of McDonald's 35,000-plus global locations, sales at restaurants open at least 13 months have been flat or falling for most of the past year.
The hamburger giant on Friday announced it was replacing the head of its U.S. division for the second time in less than two years. The company tapped a former executive, Mike Andres, to take the helm of the domestic business—another sign that the company is trying to revive its fortunes at home.
McDonald's stock has traded in a relatively narrow range in the nearly 26 months since Chief Executive Don Thompson took the helm, while the share prices of many of its rivals have soared. McDonald's shares are down about 2% since the start of the year, closing at $94.45 Friday.
Demographics help shed light on McDonald's woes. Data compiled for The Wall Street Journal by restaurant consultancy Technomic Inc. point to an age problem for the chain. Customers in their 20s and 30s—long a mainstay of McDonald's business—are defecting to competitors, in particular so-called fast-casual restaurants like Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. and gourmet-burger chain Five Guys Holdings LLC.
Increasingly, younger diners are seeking out fresher, healthier food and chains that offer customizable menu options for little more than the price of a combo meal.
The percentage
The way that Burger King and other fast food restaurant chains do business and markets their products to consumers is due to the change in our society to where the consumer wants the biggest, fastest, and best product they can get for their money. This change in society can be attributed to a process known as McDonaldization. Although McDonaldization can be applied to many other parts of our society, this paper will focus on its impact on Burger King and Taco Bell restaurants. My belief is that the process of McDonaldization has lead our generations toward a more a much more efficient lifestyle, with much less quality. From my observations and studies of these fast food resturants, several themes have become
McDonald’s Corporation are the most successful and popular fast food brand in the world, holding the largest fast food market share and being the leading fast food restaurant chain in terms of world sales (8%). They are the second greatest outlet operator with more than 34,000 outlets, serving worldwide to 69 million customers daily, across 119 countries. Their brand is the seventh most valuable and
== == == = McDonalds Restaurants Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of the McDonalds corporation, no other companies are a part of this, the company is not listed on the UK Stock exchange but is on the stock exchanges in New York, Frankfurt, Paris, Munich and Tokyo.
The global segment of the general environment is that McDonald’s has Internationally and successfully expanded into foreign markets around the world. The first country that McDonald’s expanded to was Canada. Today, McDonald’s successfully operates in more than 100 countries and has over 34,400 locations. According to the McSpotlight.org, “on average, McDonald’s opens a new restaurant every three hours”. The world recognizes McDonald’s as a truly successful American company with tasty and affordable food items.
McDonalds is a corporation that has great success because of good strategy and planning. In the next five years, McDonalds needs to keep up with the changes of the consumer and social
REFERENCES•www.mcdonalds.com, accessed on 18 July, 2008•www.mcdonldsindia.net, accessed on 18 July, 2008•en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald's, accessed on 19 July, 2008•http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/263943/mcdonalds_strategic_marketing_mix.html?cat=4, accessed on 19 July, 2008•www.kfc.com, accessed on 25 August, 2008
In the third quarter of 2014 McDonalds had a 30% reduction in earning. Analysis believes that the drop in sales was a result of the mistrust millennials had towards the fast food industry (Jankowska,2015). The change in demand has influenced the fast food industry to developed new menu items and to create new strategies to change the consumers' perception.
In the article “The Franchisees Are Not Lovin’ It,” the authors, Gruley and Patton, discuss the difficulties of the McDonalds franchise, the struggles of the franchisees, and the inability to solve these problems. The article goes on to talk about how McDonalds needs to get back to basics, just as they say themselves. Yet, they continue to make the menu more complex by the constant introduction of new foods. They are getting away from their identity as a burger joint. As a result they are closing restaurants and are continuing to experience declining revenue. McDonalds isn’t what they used to be and something needs to be done to improve the well-being of the company, the franchisees, the employees, and most importantly the customers.
George Ritzer describes McDonaldization as “the process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world”. McDonaldization is the idea that our society is becoming more efficient and more fast paced. Rational systems can be defined as “unreasonable, dehumanizing systems that deny the humanity, the human reason, of the people who work within them or are served by them”.1 Today there are many types of businesses that are increasingly adapting the same values and principles of the fast-food industry to their needs. Rational systems are dehumanizing our society and seem to be even more irrational than convenient. “Almost every aspect of
McDonald's marketing targets everyone in every age,gender,races and does not have a select audience. The company claims that their restaurants offer meals for youngsters, a serene place to relax with free wi-fi for adults, and a quick delicious breakfast for those in a hurry in the morning.
McDonald's is the world’s leading food service retailer with more than 30,000 local restaurants in 121 countries serving 45 million customers each day.
The deal was that McDonald's would sell franchises for the low price of $950. In exchange, Kroc would keep 1.4 percent of all sales and give .5 percent back to the brothers. This arrangement was far more favorable to the McDonald's brothers then to Kroc, but it was the act of a desperate man since his milkshake company was ready to go belly up.
The weaknesses of McDonalds include competitors and nutrition concerns. McDonalds failed attempt at pizza limited their ability to compete with fast food pizza franchise. Price competition with the competitors is also resulting in lower revenue for McDonalds. McDonalds also lacks variation in seasonal products that they offer. Another weakness, which has actually stemmed from McDonalds large size, is a lack of personal touch or connections. McDonalds has a very high turnover rate which in the end elevates the cost of training staff. There are also concerns that franchised operations negatively affect the food quality. McDonalds has also had a lack of innovation.
Since McDonald’s is the most well know fast food chain in the world with a market cap of 69.35 billion, brand recognition is their biggest strength. The secret of McDonald’s success is its willingness to innovate and maintain consistency in the operation of its many outlets. In recent years McDonald’s has introduced Premium Salads, Snack Wraps, fresh Apple Dippers in the United States, and Corn Cups in China. Also, McDonald 's products are priced so low that economic conditions are almost insignificant.
1. Competitors – As there are many other restaurants who are trying very hard to compete with McDonalds like KFC, Burger King, and Burger Fuel etc. They are also serving people with same kind of services like McDonalds and burger king is really giving a tough competition to McDonalds at the moment.